A Turkish-U.S. citizen and former NASA scientist jailed in Turkey on terrorism charges plans to file an appeal

A Turkish-U.S. citizen and former NASA scientist jailed in Turkey on terrorism charges plans to file an appeal to Turkey’s top court after a lower appeals court reduced his sentence this week, his lawyer said on Friday.

Serkan Golge, a Turkish-American research scientist at NASA in Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 7.5 years in a Turkish prison in February on terrorism charges. The verdict, which has been condemned by the U.S. government, has put his career on hold and left his family and friends reeling. “I feel like this cannot be real,” his wife Kubra Golge, who was inside the courtroom when her husband’s verdict was read, tells Science.

Golge’s case is similar to that of American pastor Andrew Brunson, whose ongoing detention in Turkey in connection with the coup attempt is the cause of a major row between NATO allies Washington and Ankara, and has led to U.S. President Donald Trump imposing sanctions on Turkey.